MILITARY AIRCRAFT ENGINE

Snecma (Safran) designs, develops, produces, markets and supports jet engines for combat and training aircraft, and turboprop engines for transport aircraft. It works with both the governments that order these products and the armed forces that use them. Snecma engines power more than 20 different types of military aircraft in 40 countries, including the M53-P2 for the Mirage 2000 family, the M88-2 on the Rafale, and the TP400-D6 for the upcoming Airbus A400M

Airbus A400M Engine Production ram

 Having delivered the first production-standard example of the engine that will power the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft, Europrop International is now working to half the assembly and testing time of the new TP400-D6 powerplant. Europrop International President, Simon Henley said:

    The engine consortium was well on track to bring the assembly and test programme down to 30 days, from 60 days.

The first TP400-D6 powered A400M will enter service early next year with the French Air Force. Initially 12 engines will be delivered this year, increasing to 50 in 2013 and reaching capacity of 120 per year by 2015.

The A400M will run with an 8 bladed “Scimitar propeller”. The pair of propellers on each wing turn in opposite directions, with the tips of the propellers advancing from above towards the midpoint between the two engines. This is in contrast to the overwhelming majority of multi-engine propeller driven aircraft where all propellers on the same wing turn in the same direction

A site with all the books of all sections of the avionics and radar

 Aircraft Engines

In the turboprop engine,


1.  Air enters the engine and passes into the compressor.

2.  The compressor increases the density of the air, which passes into the combustor.

3.  In the combustor, fuel mixes with the air, and the fuel-air mixture is ignited.

4. The combustion gases expand rapidly to the rear, rotating both the turbines.

5.  The first turbine is connected to, and rotates, the compressor rotor.  As a result, once combustion occurs, the engine continues to run until it is shut down or it runs out of fuel.

6.  The second turbine is connected to a shaft that passes through the center of the engine to a gearbox.

7.  The rotational energy of the turbine shaft passes through the gears within the gearbox to rotate the propeller, which powers the aircraft.   The gears reduce the speed of rotation of the turbine shaft to a level that can be used by the propeller.

 In the turbofan engine,

1.  A fan is added at the front of the engine.  The fan draws in air, a small portion of which passes into the compressor.  The greater portion of the air, however, bypasses the engine by flowing through a large duct that surrounds the engine.

2.  The compressor increases the density of the air, which passes into the combustor.

3.  In the combustor, fuel mixes with the air, and the fuel-air mixture is ignited.

4. The combustion gases pass rapidly to the rear, rotating both the turbines.

5.  The first turbine is connected to, and rotates, the compressor rotor.  As a result, once combustion occurs, the engine continues to run until it is shut down or it runs out of fuel.

6.  The second turbine is connected to a shaft that passes through the center of the engine to the drive the fan to continue to draw in air.

The thrust produced by a turbofan engine is the product of the mass of air/combustion gases displaced times the rate of acceleration of the air/combustion gases.  The rapid expansion of the combustion gases to the rear also accelerates the displacement of the "bypass" air. To produce thrust.

If the bypass ratio of a turbofan engine is 9 to 1, 90% of the thrust is attributable to the bypass air.  However, the vital acceleration is provided by the expansion of the combustion gases.


Toughest but most rewarding: China's 

 The PLA Navy surprised many foreign observers yet again when an indigenously-produced J-15 fighter became the first known fixed wing aircraft to take off from and land on the aircraft carrier Liaoning since its refitting and commissioning. Yet a critical question remains unanswered: how rapidly and to what extent will the J-15 and other Chinese military aircraft be powered by indigenous engines?

As in so many other areas, China’s overall development and production of military aircraft is advancing rapidly. Yet, as with a tent, it is the “long pole” that is essential to function and undergirds performance. In the case of aircraft, the most critical and difficult-to-produce component—the “long pole”—is the engine. Given the wide array of market-tested alternatives, nobody will buy a unit in which this central component is flawed. Hence, China’s currently significant efforts to make progress in this area. Still, the outcome and impact of these efforts remain uncertain.

As part of a larger effort to consolidate and enhance the industry, China’s jet engine makers, led by Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC), are expected to invest 100 billion yuan (US$16 billion) in jet engine development in the near term, and perhaps up to 150 billion yuan (nearly US$24 billion) by 2015. According to Reuters, “Some Chinese aviation industry specialists forecast that Beijing will eventually spend up to 300 billion yuan (US$49 billion) on jet engine development over the next two decades.” With this level of capital investment, which is many times larger than previously-reported levels, China is finally deploying the financial wherewithal needed to enable major breakthroughs. For context, the Pratt and Whitney F135 powering the F-35 Lightning II, which is the world’s most advanced and powerful tactical aircraft engine, is estimated to cost around US$8.4 billion to develop (at least in terms of officially-reported funding sources). On this basis, China has deployed funds sufficient to potentially support the parallel development of several advanced high-performance jet engines and large turbofans.
China’s defense aerospace industry has shown the ability to successfully manage parallel projects, as it is simultaneously developing at least four different types of tactical fighter and strike aircraft, including two low observable fighters, the J-20 and the J-31. No other nation is working simultaneously on so many distinct modern tactical jet programs. Yet this very progress also highlights an additional reality of China’s military aircraft sector—while airframe design and construction capacity have advanced significantly in recent years, China remains unable to mass-produce a jet engine capable and reliable enough to give its new fighters truly 5th-generation performance characteristics such as the ability to cruise at supersonic speeds without afterburners. Even if the J-20 and J-31 prototypes are flying with Chinese-made jet engines, this by no means demonstrates that such engines have a sufficient service life and can be produced on a scale suitable for equipping a large tactical aircraft fleet.

China is just now learning how to series-produce the WS-10 turbofan that powers some of its J-10 and J-11/J-11B fighter fleet, and remains unable able to produce the large, high-bypass turbofans it would need to power future indigenous large transport or tanker aircraft. While Global Times reports that the J-11B fighters now being produced are all outfitted with Chinese-made WS-10 engines, the latest jet engine import numbers suggest China’s fighter fleet remains heavily reliant on Russian engines, with Chinese-made engines now only powering about 20% of the country’s most modern fighters and strike aircraft as well as the JF-17 fighters it is exporting to Pakistan.

Reuben F. Johnson, a Russian and Chinese military aerospace analyst who writes for Jane’s, tells us that, based on interactions with foreign journalists and other experts at major international expos, of all the projects Chinese experts are working on, those concerning aeroengines appear to be some of the furthest behind their Western counterparts, with the least information available publicly.  At the 2012 Zhuhai Airshow, for instance, the WS-10 Taihang was not displayed in any form, although the lower-performance Ukrainian-derived Minshan turbofan (for the L-15 trainer) was displayed for the first time. A wide range of other jet engines are under development.

Technical challenges facing Chinese jet engine makers

Jet engines used in tactical fighter and strike aircraft must be able to operate reliably under severe conditions. Jet engine compressor blades, for instance, can experience centrifugal forces as high as 20,000 times the force of gravity during flight. The challenge that a turbofan blade faces in surviving in this environment has been likened to stirring hot soup with a spoon made of ice.

With their complex, esoteric technologies and demanding performance parameters, aeroengines represent the pinnacle of aerospace development. According to Johnson, developing an engine core is almost always the “long pole in the tent” in fighter development, and the most likely source of program delays. Aeroengine materials are often simply “not machinable” according to industrial classification guidelines because it is not affordable to do so on an industrial scale. Alloys, powder metallurgy, and single crystal blades must all be mastered. It is important to note that of the five Soviet major higher research institutes devoted to aviation, one was dedicated to materials, and Soviet metallurgical research was extremely active. In Russian engine programs, mastering thermal barrier coatings proved a key step.

Serbian Jet Fighter

 

India received 4 MiG-29K fighter aircraft from Russia 

 

The Indian Navy received 4 MiG-29K/KUB shipborne fighter aircraft from the Russian aircraft maker MiG to bring its total inventory of such aircraft to 20. These aircraft were delivered as part of a $1.5 billion contract for 29 MiG-29K/KUB, signed in 2010 between Russia and India.

A previous contract signed in 2004 for the delivery of 12 single-seat MiG-29K and 4 two-seat MiG-29KUB was completed in 2011. The contracts for MiG-29 aircraft also include:

    pilot training
    aircraft maintenance
    delivery of flight simulators
    interactive ground and sea-based training systems.

The MiG-29K/KUB aircraft are intended for the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, the former Admiral Gorshkov. However due to delays, the MiG-29 squadron, the Black Panthers, will be based at an airfield in Goa. The INS Vikramaditya is due for delivery in 2013 after problems encountered with its boilers have been rectified.

The MiG-29K is a naval variant of the original land-based MiG-29 with the addition of:

    folding wings
    an arrester tail-hook
    strengthened airframe
    multirole capability
    compatibility with a wide variety of air-to-air and air-to-surface weaponry

Iran unveils newest fighter jet   

  Iran unveiled on Saturday its newest combat jet, a domestically manufactured fighter-bomber that military officials claim can evade radar.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a ceremony broadcast on state TV that building the Qaher-313, or Dominant-313, shows Iran's will to "conquer scientific peaks."

The Qaher is one of several aircraft designs rolled out by the Iranian military since 2007. Tehran has repeatedly claimed to have developed advanced military technologies in recent years but its claims cannot be independently verified because the country does not release technical details of its arsenals.

The Islamic republic launched a self-sufficiency military program in the 1980s to compensate for a Western weapons embargo that banned export of military technology and equipment to Iran. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armoured personnel carriers, missiles, torpedoes, drones and fighter planes.

"Qaher-313 is a fully indigenous aircraft designed and built by our aerospace experts. This is a radar-evading plane that can fly at low altitude, carry weapons, engage enemy aircrafts and land at short airstrips," Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said.

Some reports however suggest Iran's program relies on equipment supplied by major international defence contractors — incorporating parts made abroad or reverse-engineered technologies into its domestic designs.

Still photos of the Qaher released by the official IRNA news agency and pictures on state TV show a single-seat jet. They described it as a fighter-bomber that can combat both other aircraft and ground targets.
Described as similar to American-made F/A-18

Iran's English-language state Press TV said Qaher was similar to the American-made F/A-18, an advanced fighter capable of dogfighting as well as penetrating enemy air defences to strike ground targets.

Physically, Press TV said, the aircraft resembles the F-5E/F Tiger II, a much older American design that Iran has had in its arsenal since it was supplied to the U.S.-allied regime of the Shah before Iran's 1979 revolution.

"Development depends on our will. If we don't have a will, no one can take us there," Ahmadinejad told the inauguration ceremony in Tehran. "Once we imported cars and assembled them here. Now, we are at a point where we can design, build and get planes in the air."

Iran unveiled what it said was its first domestically manufactured fighter jet, called Azarakhsh or Lightning, in 2007. In the same year, it claimed that Azarakhsh had reached industrial production stage.

Saeqeh, or Thunder, was a follow-up aircraft derived from Azarakhsh. Iran unveiled its first squadron of Saeqeh fighter bombers in an air show in September 2010.